The Winners!

Congratulations to the 2012 class of the Big Pink Hall of Fame!

1. Louisa May Alcott
2. Wes Anderson
3. Joel Becktell
4. Carol Christ
5. Edward Eager
6. Jim Henson
7. C.S. Lewis
8. Herman Melville
9. J.K. Rowling
10. Bill Watterson

The following candidates, each of whom received three votes, will automatically appear on the 2013 ballot:

Michael Feinstein

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Keith Hernandez

Bob Hope

E. Nesbitt

The Roches

Kay Thompson

Joss Whedon

Thank you to all who participated!

Flowchart: Which Wes Anderson Character are You?

The final seven!

Seven candidates today:

J.D. Salinger
Paul Simon
Betty Smith
Dodie Smith
Talking Heads
Kay Thompson
Bill Watterson
Joss Whedon

Voting Procedure

There's been some confusion regarding the voting procedure, so I'd like to get that nailed down. Here's what I propose: each voting member will be given a ballot. Voters will circle their top ten candidates and the votes will be tallied. Then the top vote-getters* will move on to the second round, wherein voters may choose their top five candidates. The top ten will be inducted.

*If there are ten clear winners and no ties, then we wouldn't need to have a second round of voting, but I think that's unlikely.

I further propose that we limit automatic inclusion on the ballot the following year to those individuals who make it to the second round of voting. Finally, I suggest a one-year moratorium on candidates who are not voted in, in hopes that this will help us thin the ballot and keep this tradition going as long as possible.

Let's vote!

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Nominees of Song and Story

1. Herman Melville
2. E. Nesbit
3. Laura Nyro
4. The Roches
5. J.K. Rowling

Some religious folks, and also Bob Hope

Some interesting dark horses today:

Bob Hope

Debbie Houck

C.S. Lewis

John Paul II

Madeleine L'Engle

Today's Nominees:

1. Michael Feinstein
2. Ella Fitzgerald
3. F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. Jim Henson
5. Keith Hernandez

Also, check out this awesome two-for-one:

On the drive home from NoHo yesterday A. pointed out that although we have spent a fair amount of effort devising a nomination and election process, the actual criteria to be used by the electors is undefined. By way of illustration, the Baseball HOF's criteria are as follows:

5. Voting: Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.
6. Automatic Elections: No automatic elections based on performances such as a batting average of .400 or more for one (1) year, pitching a perfect game or similar outstanding achievement shall be permitted.

The Pro Football HOF bases enshrinement on only one factor:  on-field achievements and contributions to the game.

The Rock and Roll HOF criteria are likewise pretty open-ended: voters consider innovation and influence.

It should be noted that the Baseball HOF rules have evolved over a number of years-- it is the oldest institution of its kind. It also bears mentioning that only baseball includes criteria like " integrity, sportsmanship, [and] character". It is also worth mentioning that the Baseball HOF includes, inter alia, Ty Cobb,  and Walter O'Malley. (Football has O.J.. Nobody's perfect.)

I'd say that the quality we are looking for is influence, and I think that's been pretty clear up to this point, but I wanted to put it out there.

And the hits keep coming!

Today's nominees:

Carol Christ
Laurie Colwin
Blossom Dearie
Edward Eager
Elizabeth Enright

The Nominations Are In!

Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations for the 2012 Big Pink Hall of Fame! As we established last year, in the event of duplicate nominations, participants were allowed to select additional candidates. There are 33 nominees this year, and, at the risk of editorializing, I think we can all agree that it is not a question of whether these individuals belong in the Hall of Fame, but merely when. 

Each day, five of this year's candidates will be released, so be sure to watch this space! Please restrict discussion of the candidates to the comments section, so that all voting members will be able to participate.

Today's five candidates:

Louisa May Alcott

Wes Anderson

The Beatles

Joel Becktell

Chuck Berry

And we're off!

Second Chance for 2011 Nominees

The following candidates will appear on the 2012 ballot:

• The Beatles
• Chuck Berry
• Carol Christ
• Ella Fitzgerald
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• C.S. Lewis
• Keith Richards
• Betty Smith
• Joss Whedon
• Joel Becktell

Note: Joel Becktell was not included on the list before, but we are assuming this is due to a clerical error. If you have questions about this decision, please contact the secretary, Emily Smart.

Official Portrait Will Be Unveiled December 26

The official portrait of the 2011 Big Pink Hall of Fame inductees is complete and will be unveiled during the Hall of Fame ceremony on December 26th. Once again, the class of 2011 included the following individuals:

• Russell and Lillian Hoban
• Julia Child
• Scott Oakley
• They Might Be Giants
• Norton Juster
• Bob Dylan
• Walter R. Brooks
• Jonathan Safran Foer
• Ira Glass
• Bing Crosby
• Darlene Gullia
• Madeline Jankowski

We are still waiting on nominations. Please submit them as soon as possible in case of duplicates.

It is Big Pink HOF time again!

Mrs. Smart has volunteered to act as Secretary.

See below for the candidates who received enough votes to automatically qualify for the ballot this year.

Electors may nominate up to five candidates this year. The top 10 vote-getters will be inducted this year.

Further updates as warranted.

We're back!

Hello family! After a yearlong hiatus, we're back to the most wonderful time of the year: nomination time! Someone who doesn't have finals will be taking submissions, and I believe the class size is capped at ten, so think over your submissions carefully! May the odds be ever in your favor.

Maurice Sendak seems like a worth candidate.

Congratulations to the inaugural class of the Big Pink Hall of Fame:

Walter R. Brooks
Julia Child
Bing Crosby
Bob Dylan
Jonathan Safren Foyer
Ira Glass
Darline Gullia
Madelene Jancowski
Norton Juster
Russell and Lillian Hoban
Scott Oakley
They Might Be Giants

The following candidates received the votes necessary to automatically appear on the 2012 ballot:

The Beatles
Chuck Berry
Carol Christ
Ella Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
C.S. Lewis
Keith Richards
Betty Smith
Joss Wheadon

New Business: We need to consider, inter alia, how long candidates who do not receive the minimum number of votes must remain off-ballot. Forever? Five years? One year?

We should also discuss who is eligible to vote, and to nominate candidates going forward.

This year's class was limited to the top 12 vote-getters. Do we want to continue restricting class size? If we do, how many candidates should be inducted each year?

Finally, for each of this year's inductees I think it would be nice to draft a citation, which can be posted here, and sent to those who are still living. We don't have to do it all at once. Who would like to do the first one?